SHE is a performance of incredible intensity where the smallest movements are made as perceptible and as powerful as the most visible gestures.

“A surreal and fantastic performance.” Dance Magazine

SHE, a solo performance created by Saburo Teshigawara, principal representative of Japan’s contemporary dance scene, is presented in an exclusive national premiere at Triennale Teatro dell’Arte. The interpreter is Rihoko Sato, magnificent performer and Teshigawara’s artistic partner who, thanks to her exceptional physical presence and sensibility, has perfected and enhanced her own personal choreographic vocabulary in such a way as to achieve a completely new dimension of dance improvisation. In SHE, a work of extraordinary intensity, the body of the dancer is thrust and turned around itself in an imaginary spiral while demonstrating that it is possible to combine absolute virtuosity with research and the avant-garde.

Saburo Teshigawara began his unique creative career in 1981 in his native Tokyo after studying plastic arts and classical ballet. In 1985 he formed KARAS with Kei Miyata and began choreographing their own works as well as those of other interpreters. Since then, he and KARAS have been invited every year to perform in major international cities around the world. In 1994/1995 he was invited by William Forsythe to choreograph the Frankfurt Ballet, in 1999 he created Le Sacre du printemps for the Bayerisches Staatsballett of Monaco while in 2000 he worked with the Nederlands Dans Theater. In February 2003 he was commissioned a new work, AIR , by the Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris. In 2002 he created Para-Dice and Vacant in 2006, both for the Ballet du Grand, Théâtre de Genève. In 2010 the La Fenice Theatre of Venice commissioned the direction, scenes and costumes for Dido and Aeneas.
In addition to solo performances and his work with KARAS, Saburo Teshigawara has also been receiving international attention as a choreographer/director. He has been commissioned by many international Ballet companies such as the Paris Opera to create repertoire pieces. In Milan he has presented his work at Teatro dell’Arte and Teatro alla Scala. From 2006 to 2013, he taught at the College of Contemporary Psychology, St. Paul’s (Rikkyo) University in Japan. Since 2014, he is a professor at the Tama Art University, department of Scenography Design, Drama, and Dance. His work has won numerous awards and honours in Japan and abroad, including a Bessie Award in 2007, the Medal of Honor by the Emperor of Japan in 2009 while in 2017 he was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

Rihoko Sato joined KARAS in 1996 and since then has performed in all of the group’s works, as well as assisted Saburo Teshigawara in all his creative activities. She is acclaimed internationally as one of the main figures in Teshigawara’s works. Sato also worked with KARAS on the educational project S.T.E.P. and as a Ballet Master for Teshigawara’s commissioned works for other ballet companies. She received the Best Dancer Award for her duet with Vaclav Kunes in Scream and Whisper at Les Étoiles de Ballet2000 Awards in 2005 in Cannes, the Japan Dance Forum award for 2007, the Premio Positano “Leonide Massine” Per la Danza 2012 and most recently the Japan dance critic new face award (2016) and the Art Encouragement Prize of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2018.